TV's Ben Fogle was 'like a madman' after being spiked with LSD

Wednesday 20 February 2013 11:38 BST

Ben Fogle

Ben Fogle today revealed he thought he was going to die when he suffered a “full-on psychotic episode” after his drink was apparently spiked with LSD.

The TV presenter told how he tried to jump out of a window — with wife Marina and friends forced to lock him in a room for his own safety until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital. The episode lasted for about six hours.

Fogle, 39, estimated he drank no more than half a bottle of wine at a country pub in Gloucestershire during a stay with friends. He said he suddenly “flipped” as they went back to their house last Friday.

He realised something “very strange” was happening as he attended to his two children.

Fogle, who stressed he has never experimented with drugs, said he started “ranting, marching up and down, hitting walls and trying to jump out of windows”.

He said he was so scared by his own behaviour that he asked to be restrained. In the ambulance he said paramedics told his wife he must have taken drugs. “I was acting like a madman,” he said. “I thought I was doomed and was going to die. My wife and friends kept trying to calm me down as I threatened to hurt myself. I was totally out of my normal character. It was a full-on psychotic episode.”

Fogle, of Kensington, had to postpone a five-week trip for a BBC show while he had heart and brain tests and was seen by psychiatrists.

“Doctors have now concluded it was almost certainly drugs and ruled out that it was neurological or psychological,” he said. “I’m certain my drink was spiked.”

He appealed for the “culprit” to come forward and explain why they did it.